Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

“Ready,” I said, clearing my throat.


“Good,” he replied. “Let’s go.”

I took a deep breath. It was time.





Chapter Six





As soon as my fingers closed around Galo’s hand, he pressed the button on his wrist. Immediately, he disappeared from view. I pressed the button on my wrist and did the same. It didn’t take long before we were passing by Navan’s and my old ship, and the sight of it made my heart droop. If only Navan and I had known what we’d find here when it first broke down…

“Best not go near it,” Galo said, voicing my thoughts. “We’ve got enough to worry about without getting mixed up with ship-dwelling shifters.”

As we passed, a gray wolf padded out of the ship. It sniffed at the air, then turned its furry head toward us.

“Keep moving, slowly,” Galo said in an undertone.

I did as told, and, though the disguised shifter advanced a few paces, it disappeared back into the ship.

“Good job,” Galo said. “Now for our actual mission.”

My smile fell. The old lycan was right—we were just now reaching where the invisibility shield had been around the camp.

“You said that Navan was in a bunker separated from the main camp?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “You just have to walk through the dirt path in the middle—it cuts straight through the camp. Then there’s some empty space, and we’ll come to the bunker where they were keeping him. I can lead us in.”

“No, no,” Galo said. “If there’s anyone who should be caught, it’s me. I’ll go first.”

Although I worried about the old man, I didn’t argue. Galo stood a better chance of fighting off any coldblood guards, and I couldn’t afford to be captured again, not when the rebels would use me to coerce Navan into doing their bidding.

Galo stopped, and I heard a sniffing noise. A foot ahead, the air shimmered, presumably because Galo had touched the shield.

“Yep, we’re here,” he said. “And no, I can’t sniff invisibility shields, if you’re wondering—it’s only habit.” He paused. “Now would be a good time to tell your friends that we’re here. And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that once we get inside you must stay completely silent, and not let go of my hand unless completely necessary. If I’m caught, you should of course continue on your own, but otherwise we must stay together. Since we’re both invisible, finding one another in a crowded base camp would be nearly impossible.”

“Okay, I won’t let go,” I said, before taking the comm device out of a pocket on the side of my suit. “We’ve reached the bunker—we’re going in,” I whispered into it, then turned the device off and tucked it back into my pocket. “Ready,” I told Galo.

“All right. Hey ho, let’s go,” he said.

Together we stepped through the shield, and I held my breath, expecting a shifter or coldblood to greet us on the other side with a spear—but there was no one. The camp itself was almost empty and fairly quiet, with hardly any coldbloods or shifters milling about, and no guards around this part of the border.

Galo squeezed my hand, and I was pretty sure I understood his message. So far, this looked good.

As we ventured farther into the camp, we saw that the atmosphere was much the same. The few coldbloods and shifters who were outside mingled about casually—the tension of earlier seemed to have died down. Even when I accidentally brushed a shifter woman’s arm, she paused, glanced around suspiciously, but then shrugged it off.

In fact, going through the entire camp was easy, to my massive relief. Galo navigated us through the tents and around the odd coldblood or shifter, keeping as firm a hold on my hand as I kept on his. When we finally broke out of the main part of the camp, and the last tent was a good yard away, Galo stopped. After what sounded like him looking around, he whispered, “Let’s give your friends an update.”

I took out the comm device. Normally, it would’ve been funny to see the little round thing floating in my invisible hand, but these weren’t normal circumstances.

I pressed the button. “Hey, guys, just an update. We’ve made it through the camp and are on the way to the bunker.” I breathed so softly I could barely hear myself—but it seemed to be loud enough for the comm’s sensitive mic to pick up.

“Hey, Riley—Bashrik here.” The reply came almost instantly. “Okay, good. Stay safe, and give us the next update when you can.”

With that, I clicked the device off and put it away. As we continued, we passed by the far-off silo-like building, which was thankfully not currently spewing red smoke.

“This place is disgusting,” Galo muttered, mostly to himself. I could hardly blame him. It had been a shock enough for me, let alone a lycan Fed agent who belonged to an organization expressly designed to be aware of places like this.

As we neared the bunker, we saw that its surroundings were deserted. We reached the building’s doors, one of which was still wrenched off its hinges, and Galo paused again.

“You ready?” he whispered.

“No,” I said.

He chuckled. “Good. Me neither.”

And then he squeezed my hand, and we walked through the doors. He paused there, and I understood—he wouldn’t know where exactly in the building Navan was, but I did. Keeping our hands clasped, we switched positions so that I was leading him, and continued advancing. My heart hammered in my chest as we neared the end of the hallway, toward the room I’d escaped from last time. The last time I was here, I’d nearly been captured. This time, however, there wasn’t the slightest sign of any coldbloods.

A chilling thought suddenly occurred to me as my hand closed around the room’s doorknob. Had they moved Navan somewhere else? Are we too late?

Something about this situation felt very, very wrong.

“Where did they all go?” I breathed.

I didn’t hear Galo’s answer as I entered the room and spotted a chair in the middle of it—more specifically, as I spotted who was in it. He was tied with the same red intestine twine as last time, his face looking even more slack and hopeless than before.

Navan.

I released Galo’s hand and sprinted forward so I could pull off Navan’s blindfold. Surprised, he looked around as I lowered his gag too. In my excitement to see him, I had forgotten that I was still invisible.

“Navan, it’s me,” I whispered, my voice shaking with relief at the sight of him alive.

Navan’s eyes widened with fear. “Get out of here,” he said frantically. “They left me unguarded on purpose—it’s a trap!”

My heart leapt into my throat, and I twisted around just as two uniform-wearing coldbloods appeared in the doorway.





Chapter Seven





“Search the room. Someone’s here,” one of the coldbloods said.

He locked the door as the other strode ahead, arms out and a glassy, rifle-like weapon raised.

“Show yourself,” he barked.

As quietly as I could, I backed away from Navan.